Reality Roll Call Interviews Jay from Two Months Two Million

Jay Rosenkrantz of 2 Months 2 Millions Talks About The Professional Poker Lifestyle

Twenty-two year old Jay Rosenkrantz is one of the four young pokers players in the G4 reality series, Two Months, Two Millions. We had an opportunity to speak with the Long Island native about the show and what professional online poker is about:

RCC: In your own words, what is Two Months, Two Million about?

Jay: The show is kind of interesting in that normal reality televison shows come up with an idea, and then they go out and cast certain people to fill those roles to perform that idea. And what happened with Two Months Two Million it was very much built around the four of us. We’ve known each other for three or four years; we’ve been friends that long. We’ve been professional poker players for the last four or five years. We’re playing with our own money.It’s basically documenting our lives. The premise of the show is that the four of us go out to Vegas this summer, and our goal is to make 2 million dollars in two months through playing poker, through playing other people in poker, live poker, online poker; pretty much anything you can think of with regards to poker. And it’s about watching what comes with that high-stakes poker lifestyle in Vegas. Letting us sort of run free like we normally do and capturing that freedom is a really big theme. It’s also about exploring what that 2 million dollar goal means to us individually.

RRC: And you’re all using your own money, right?

Jay: People assume that G4 put up the money. They’re a small network and this is their first big show.It’s completely our own bankroll. We play games ranging from $1,000 buy-in to$100,000 buy-in. And how we decide which stakes to play depends on the players playing in those games.

RRC: I read somewhere that you made 1 million dollars in one month,your biggest win . Since you started playing professionally, what has been your biggest loss?

Jay: I’ve probably lost $250,000 of my own money  in a day. I’ve lost $100,000 of my own money more times than can remember. $200,000 is the treshhold that hurts me; it doesn’t feel good. I’m used to anything below that. It’s interesting to think about because we all started out with basically no money at all. None of us are trust fund babies.We all slowly, slowly worked our ways up. The first time I lost $1,000 I wanted to kill myself I was so depressed.The first time you lose $10,000 it feels the same way. You get used to it; it’s all relative to the amount of money you have and the amount of money you play for.

RRC: In your video bio you said that there are a lot of bright college kids that study poker. Briefly, explain what it means to study poker.

Jay: Once Chris Moneymaker won the World Series in 2003, the poker boom started, which is sort of like a microcosm of the the dot-com boom. It’s basically creating an industry around playing poker professionally because all these online sites have sprung up. Because of that you have all these people that draw paralells between playing poker and investing in the stock market. It’s very similar at its core.

In terms of investing, you’re not going to invest half your net worth in a risky stock, right? So you wouldn’t play for half your net worth in a risky poker game either. So around that the concept of bankroll management, the mathematics of it started being studied in more detail. A culture of learning developed on internet poker. Ten years ago when you played a hand of poker the only people you could discuss it with was your poker buddies. Now there are these forums that are devoted to people posting hands and talking strategy.So not only are you playing hands at a much more rapid pace, you’re able to talk with some of the best players in the world.You can be reading about hands and the strategies behind them.

RRC: And we’ll get to see all this on the show.

Jay: In the conception of the show it became clear that it’snot interesting to watch people click buttons and playpoker. So then the question became, “How do you use poker and the fact that these guys’ lifestyles is supported byvpoker to tell a compelling story that people will want to watch?” And at the end of the day it’s about what those wins and losses do to us. When we win, how do we celebrate? When we lose, how do we deal with that? How does it affect our lives and relationships?

Jason aka “pr1nnyraid” aka “Krantz”

Infatuated with No Limit Texas Hold ‘em since the age of 12, Krantz was once a waiter, mouse-pad cutter, tent cleaner, toy-shelver, freelance writer, legal assistant and gas pumper. Now this 25-year-old has found his calling as a professional online poker player, a title he secured four years ago. Feared throughout the world for his relentless aggression and ingenuity at the tables, Krantz is the Founder and Creative Director of a poker training community called DeucesCracked.com, and was the biggest winner in online No Limit cash games for 2007-2008.

Two  Months Two Million debuts Sunday, August 16th at 9:00 PM on G4.